Help for Passover Challenged Cooks

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cooks9It’ s that time of year again when cooks be they good, bad or indifferent, creative or non, put all their skills to use. Passover does pose some unique challenges, but we tend to forget that in the old days when cooks had no convenience foods and everything had to be made form scratch, food was pretty much the same as it was all year except for eliminating the forbidden foods.

However, we still try to show that we won’t be cowed by restrictions and what’s put on the table is just as deli-cious and attractive as at any other time of the year.

So here are some mouth-watering Passover recipes good for the holiday and any time of the year. Please share your easy, successful recipes with the Shomrei community by sending them to Aileen Grossberg. The recipes don’t have to be specifically for Passover.

Entrees for the Passover table are usually not too challenging: a nice brisket, a turkey, veal breast, a beautiful piece of salmon but side dishes can be. We want food that’s tasty and maybe innovative but still sort of tradi-tional. This potato dish from Sheila Schuman, one of Shomrei’s best cooks (sit with Sheila at kiddush lunch sometimes and you’ll see) is perfect for Passover, Hanukkah, or any time potatoes are called for.

cooks1Mock Potato Kugel (serves 12)
Ingredients
9 large Idaho potatoes
2 sticks of butter or parve margarine if using with meat
about 3 scant teaspoons of salt
2 onions, diced
margarine for sautéing

Directions
1. Cook potatoes.
2. Mash with margarine, adding it gradually. Use your judgement as to how much margarine to use up to two sticks.
3. Add salt to taste up to 3 scant teaspoons for the 9 potatoes.
4. Sautee diced onions in margarine until golden brown.
5. Add to potato mixture and mix well.
6. Place in 9 x 13 casserole.
7. To cook, heat at 350 until golden on top about 45 minutes.

NOTE: Can be prepared up to 2 days before and refrigerated. Don’t be tempted to substitute olive oil. You want a buttery taste and crisp top. To turn this into a main dish, add left over brisket or other shredded beef and proceed.

cooks3 (1)If I lived in Downton Abbey, I’d actually have my cook make potato roses, a real showstopping recipe. I’ve provided a link to the recipe. Maybe someone out there will make them and send a photo to Shomrei Week.

If you are serving salmon, one of our preschool parents, Bridgid Placek has a super simple, delicious way to prepare the fish. Be aware that this sauce uses mustard which is not used by Ashkenazi cooks. It’s so good that her kids want it for breakfast and our MESH guests applauded.

cooks4Yogurt Sauce for Baked Salmon
Ingredients
1 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
2 T Dijon mustard ( there is imitation mustard for Passover and if you follow the Sephardic tradition, there is KP Dijon mustard available)
3 T chopped onion or shallots
1/3 c. chopped fresh dill
fresh chopped garlic to taste
salt
pepper

Directions
1. Mix together the first four ingredients.
2. Let the mixture sit so that the flavors meld.
3. Slather the sauce onto the fish, leaving some to serve on the side, sprinkle with chopped garlic to taste, salt and pepper.
4. When ready, bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes until the fish flakes easily.
5. Serve with additional sauce on the side.

NOTE: Baking the garlic mellows the taste. Grated horseradish might be a good substitute for the mustard. it’ll give the sauce some zing. Just taste carefully.

Desserts also seem to be a challenge. I vividly remember sponge cake as a substitute for a birthday cake when my April birthday coincided with Passover. A nice, rich chocolate cake would have been a welcome treat. The following cake is a regular at the INTERREG office where my daughter Rebecca works. She often brings it in for her gluten intolerant colleagues. For Passover use the ground almond version and hope that none of your guests are allergic to nuts.

cooks5Chocolate Olive Oil Cake from Nigella Lawson via Rebecca Grossberg (serves 8-12)
Ingredients
2/3 c regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
6 Tablespoons good-quality unsweetened cocoa (sifted)
1/2 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, not imitation
1 1/2 cups almond meal or 3/4 cup plus 1 T all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 cup superfine sugar
3 large eggs
confectioner’s sugar (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9 inch springform pan with a little oil and line the base with parchment paper.
2. Measure and sift cocoa into a bowl; whisk in boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolately, slightly runny paste.
3. Whisk in the vanilla. Set aside to cool.
4. In another small bowl, combine almond meal (or flour) with the baking soda and pinch of salt.
5. Put the sugar, oil, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale, aerated, thickened cream.
6. Turn down mixer speed a little and pour in cocoa mixture, beating as you go. When all is scraped in, slowly add the ground almond mixture.
7. Scrape down, still with a spatula and for batter into prepared pan.
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very center still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up almost clean.
9. Let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then release form the pan. Cool.
Serve slightly warm with raspberries, whipped cream, mascarpone or ice cream. Can also be made in a loaf pan. A sifting of confectioner’s sugar will dress up the cake. Put a doily on the cake. Sift the sugar and carefully remove the doily.

cooks6cooks7Lastly, here are links to the two desserts I’m going to serve at my seder this year. They are a bit traditional but also a little different:
Almond Apricot macaroons 
Passover Pear Ginger Crisp 

For more recipes especially for Passover, refer to the cookbook section in the Lampert Library. Cookbooks are numbered 641.5 and the library is well stocked with traditional books as well as those with a modern twist and recipes from around the world including Israel, France, Italy, North Africa, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic worlds and regional American cooking.

Cookbooks may be borrowed but please protect the pages if you use the books near the stove or messy ingredients.

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